


No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

by meependa (Hawkbringer)



Category: Original Work
Genre: Abandoned Work - Unfinished and Discontinued, Gen, Implied/Referenced Torture, Inspired by Holly Black's Tithe, Inspired by Miyazaki's Spirited Away, My Scraps, uploaded for posterity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-16
Updated: 2018-12-16
Packaged: 2019-09-20 15:31:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 483
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17025282
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hawkbringer/pseuds/meependa
Summary: A hapless, forgetful man named Jer stumbles into Fae country yet again after a previous disastrous encounter with the Fair Folk that he seems to have forgotten. (Written in like 2007, unfinished, abandoned, uploaded for posterity.)





	No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

**Author's Note:**

> Written for something called the Ultimate Fairy Contest, sometime on or before April 19th, 2007. I was in middle school, had recently read Tithe by Holly Black and had my mind blown. Spirited Away was still fresh in my mind as well at the time, which explains the river spirit fascination.

Jer walks upon sacred ground, but he doesn't know it yet. The grass is greener now, he notes in his ponderings on philosophy; the subject his mind is steeped in so deep. Maybe they were right, he thinks with a smile, the grass is greener on the other side. Maybe I really should leave my wife, then! Jer giggles in mirth, not paying attention to where he is walking. This is quite a mistake.

Below him, far below, sit the creatures, white as snow. They flit on wings the size of paperclips, adorned with lace and streaming spider silk the gods themselves would envy. These delicate creatures have always been the guardians of the spirits, and as such, are given divine powers the moment of their birth; powers humans, such as the one walking above them now, could never hope to understand. Their words, as well, are too hastily spoken. 

Jer, an insignificant human given a small gift of speech, of writing, had learned in the past not to tamper with the spirits. His lesson traveled along such lines as 'learn from your mistakes' and 'no wish is without a price.' Basically, he encountered a hobo-spirit, one of a river long since dried up, who was alone, out in the cold. He, being young and opportunistic, gave the hobo a choice- he would help the spirit find a new river to abide in (for a price), or he could stay out in the cold. The spirit, being lonely and desperate, believed nothing could be better than a new home. Neither one suspected the damage that would result in an old, withered river spirit trying to take over the home of a well-established river tycoon. (Jer had taken the river spirit as far as the Mississippi, and the current owner wasn't as sympathetic to the older spirit's plight.) 

In his harsh treatment of the older spirit, Mississippi inadvertently learned of the agreement as Hobo screamed during his torture. All things, it would seem, have a knack for self-survival, and all things, in time, would turn over their most cherished lover in order to survive torture middle-schoolers could think up. In all fairness, middle-schoolers are known for being very psychologicaly brutal. The Mississippi River spirit roared in anger and lashed out at the human cowering under the rocks. Apparently the tycoon didn't believe his own sense of guilt for causing the suffering of the hobo was enough. The larger spirit punished Jer by permanently taking away his ability to enjoy the world- in effect, the human was now blind. The lesson learned here was to haunt Jer for the rest of the human's short mortal life. It did its job well.

This lucky human faired relatively well from then. What circumstances then, brought together this human and these chauvinistic fey? It doesn't really matter, just that they are here. And now, the stroy can unfold.

**Author's Note:**

> Well, it seems like that's all past-me wrote as a frame story. Ripe for the taking if anyone wants to actually write about Jer and his stupidity in dealing with the Fey!


End file.
